John Perry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 571: To ask the Minister for Education and Science further to Parliamentary Question No. 226 of 11 October 2006, if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the NCSE have twice referred the matter to the local SENCO for answer, who in turn has twice referred this Deputy to the NCSE; if, in view of the unsatisfactory response, an appeals procedure exists as per the terms of the relevant Education Act; the way access can be gained to same; the reason this Deputy was not made aware of this appeals procedure; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35404/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I am informed that since I replied to the Deputy's earlier question, an official of the National Council for Special Education (NCSE) has been in direct contact with him in relation to the specific issues raised in that question.

With regard to an appeals process, the Deputy will be aware that the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs (EPSEN) Act 2004 was enacted in July 2004. The Special Education Appeals Board (SEAB) was established under section 36 of the Act to hear and determine appeals pursuant to a number of sections of the Act. The SEAB will become operational as soon as the relevant sections of the Act have come into effect. The relevant sections of the Act could not come into effect without the NCSE having an opportunity to present an implementation report to me, which it did recently and I am currently considering its contents.

In the interim, the NCSE will undertake to review a decision taken by a special educational needs organiser (SENO) on foot of a request from a school or parents/guardians, when accompanied by relevant additional information, which may not have been to hand at the time of the decision. The NCSE has outlined this process in its Circular 01/05.